Around Groningen

Once known as East Frisia, the province of Groningen does not have the high tourist profile of many of the country’s other regions, but it does boast a large slab of empty coastline where the Lauwersmeer National Park is home to extensive wildlife, the seal sanctuary of Pieterburen, and the pick of the old manor houses that dot the province, Menkemaborg in Uithuizen. To the southeast of Groningen, the old frontier village of Bourtange has been painstakingly restored, offering an insight into eighteenth-century life in a fortified town, while nearby Ter Apel holds a rare survivor from the Reformation in the substantial remains of its monastery.

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Walks around Uithuizen

The trip to Uithuizen can be combined with wadlopen – a guided walk across the coastal mud flats to the uninhabited sand-spit island of Rottumeroog, the most easterly of the Dutch Wadden islands. Excursion buses head out to the coast from Menkemaborg at weekends two or three times a month(June–Sept); the trip costs from €32.50 per person and lasts four hours: booking is essential – contact Stichting Uithuizer Wad (w wadlopen.nl). Without a guide, it’s too dangerous to venture onto the mud flats, but it is easy enough to walk along the enclosing dyke that runs behind the shoreline for the whole length of the province. There’s precious little to see, but when the weather’s clear, the browns, blues and greens of the surrounding land and sea are unusually beautiful. From Uithuizen, it’s a good hour’s stroll north to the nearest point on the dyke, and you’ll need a large-scale map for directions.

The Pieterpad

Pieterburen is also the start and end point for the longest unbroken walking route in the Netherlands, the 464-kilometre-long Pieterpad to Maastricht. More information and a map of the walking route can be obtained at Pieterburen VVV or at w pieterpad.nl.